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Old 2010.02.10, 08:09 PM   #31
ichenyy
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Originally Posted by Scribble R View Post
Some of the songs are characteristic of the alleged composers so I believe it 100 per cent at this point...(Well, I can't understand lyrics)
i have a feeling that the credits are pretty much correct...

Before looking at the credits, when i listened to 05 FOUL, i was like "this must be uki", and when i listened to 06 utenkekkou and 08. zettai zetsumei i felt that they must be izawa compositions

edit:Utenkekkou(雨天決行) and Zettai Zetsumei(絶体絶命)are cute

Last edited by ichenyy : 2010.02.10 at 08:37 PM.
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Old 2010.02.10, 11:00 PM   #32
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Originally Posted by kuro_neko View Post
I haven't listened. I downloaded the leak and compared 3min with my personal rip of the single and senkou shoujo with my copy. it sounded terrible so I didn't bother to listen to the entire leak, I just skimmed through denpa tsuushin, liked what I heard, didn't want to spoil the rest, and put it away. its still on my HD but I probably won't listen to it. the leak of Adult was similar, as Glath has mentioned, and some members really regret it.

that being said, this wasn't always on jpopsuki. I know you just PMed on last.fm and they gave it to you, but that isn't the way it works on the forum. you weren't around and don't have a name for yourself, but considering my personal history with one member in particular, who, as far as I can trace, is the source of the leak to others at last.fm and eventually jpopsuki and this forum, I doubt if I personally asked they would have shared it with me. it got ugly during HF, Variety, and SG. Hell, HF was half the reason why the old forums closed and the new ones opened. point being, it doesn't happen like this often, it usually is a small group of people who manage to get the album who decide who is and who isn't cool enough to share with. fortunately there are enough members on last.fm and enough new members here who are ignorant of release history, so no worries this time around.

I was here for variety and SG. you just didnt notice me and I think it was just one person who was playing pick and choose, but obviously they picked enough people for it to spread around and the only reason it seemed to cause problems is because they were hell bent on talking about it here despite playing pick and choose. This time that person obviously didnt want to cause problems on the board. And the circle wasnt a circle, it was a pyramid, people closer to the source of it were more worried about getting someone in trouble by letting everyone hear it but wanted to share it with SOMEONE and with every time it got passed along 3 or 4 or 10 degrees nobody cared anymore, i think this is something that happens with a lot of leaks, how dramatic the fanbase is varies though. I dont see why it cant always work the way it did this time from now on. Theres a ban on talking about it until its reached that degree when anyone can find it if they work ask around and then the discussion of it is limited to one thread. I think its good days from here on out if no one lets their underwear get too tight.

Last edited by lazer85 : 2010.02.10 at 11:05 PM.
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Old 2010.02.10, 11:04 PM   #33
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As usual, I don't have much nice things to say about this album. The sound is very generic Jpop, and there's nothing truly original about the material on this album. Well, maybe autotune Ukizawa on the opening track, which is truly truly truly ghastly. Otherwise, all the sounds we've heard elsewhere from other artists.

Listenable tracks:
#3 シーズンサヨナラ. This would be what I call nice mainstream pop. That's a nice little solo that Izawa did. However, it feels like anyone else can sing the melody and it wouldn't make a difference. You can put one of the Perfume girls on autotune on vocals, and it would probably still work. It's not "special" to TJ, but still a solid track.

#8 絶体絶命 Also another nice mainstream pop sound. Probably the most Ringo sounding out of all the tracks on it, though I can hear the Izawa in there too. I don't like the piano sound on this; it sounds too Sesame Street/cartoonish. But otherwise this is a really enjoyable tune.

#9 FAIR. I like it when Uki writes R&B tracks. He has even written himself a rather successful solo bit. Definitely a direction worth exploring.

Probably will not listen to this album ever again. The sound is so generic any other band could have reproduced it quite easily. Also, the emotional range of this album is that of a 14 yr old kid. It kinda trods along the innocent happy-sad continuum; it doesn't have the intensity or complexity of ... 30 yr old emotions, which incidentally, is the median age of the band members. It just feels dumbed down for me.

This will be a successful pop album and will make TJ very very rich.
Congratulations.
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Old 2010.02.11, 12:18 AM   #34
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its always the same group of people (who don't need to be named) and they share amongst themselves and the only reason why this time is different is because there is a community of jihen listeners on last.fm who either lurk here or simply don't come here, so they are largely ignorant of the shark feeding that happens each release, and being friends with certain ex-members, they have access to the material and share it. I mean if someone was stupid enough to upload it to jpopsuki, that says enough right there. that is why I asked if it was the same source as that which was being shared privately in small circles. some people got it from jpopsuki, some people (like you lazer), got it from others. In the end it must come from the same source, as you mentioned. I guess someone was just stupid enough to put it up on jpopsuki, I hope no one looses their job if this came from a promo...

justriingo, your post made me laugh (probably not intentionally either). if your going to write off the album as having the emotional range of a kid, you might want to wait for a leak that is high quality enough to actually decipher the lyrics (assuming you speak japanese). good job, per usual
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Old 2010.02.11, 02:32 AM   #35
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Originally Posted by justriiingo View Post
it doesn't have the intensity or complexity of ... 30 yr old emotions, which incidentally, is the median age of the band members.
Maths Nazi time. If all the members are over 30 years of age the median value is NOT 30.
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Old 2010.02.11, 03:30 AM   #36
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If having a median age of over 30 means something, maybe it should mean spreading the creative wings a la Tamatebako. I want SR to develop her rich gift for melody, not go into a more mainstream sound. After listening, I can only remember two of the new tunes at the moment: Zettai Zetsumei and Sweet Spot. The autotune intro to Ikiru is unlistenable. Actually this album might be experimental, but I probably don't know or like the J-pop acts they're referencing, I guess I'm at a disadvantage.

@kuro_neko: Would you listen to a pneumatic drill if the lyrics were good? Maybe you'd find it jarring in an interesting way. We get that you're not listening to a poor quality leak (laudable, especially if a band are interviewed as refining their groove, the final CD garage quality didn't help Kyoiku in that regard), but the tunes are not a patch on what is right to expect from an SR-related project. Most multilingual people I know don't go on about it like you do. You pick on one poster, but JR is the one person who posted what I felt on first listening to TJ, and has a much, much better taste in music than you. No offence and all.

Might post more later, I like a couple of songs (Zettai Zetsumei's really swinging) but I'm not sure there's enough of an album to go on.

Last edited by so_cold : 2010.03.06 at 03:09 PM. Reason: (retro) wanted to make post look more chilled out / readable where I could
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Old 2010.02.11, 04:23 AM   #37
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Why is it that the native english speakers here have much poorer english than the non-native english speakers?

I guess I'm not an exception


kuro- if you need to know i talked to who you seem to think is the source, he said no but I'm sure if i pressed him with kindness he would have given it to me but at that time I had already found it. I dont think its as malicious as you think it is.

Just out of curiousity, what turns you on these days justringo? I get it if someone doesnt dig this album, but I dont really get your reasons at all. I don't really get how you could say 'any other band could produce this'....even if this album is shit, I dont really think thats a valid statement. I don't see how any of these songs aside from the singles and one or two more would stike a chord with the mainstream, I mean talk shit on ikiru all you want, its not going to make this band the next perfume or raise them to the heights of popularity that ringo was during SS. I'm sure this band could have produced 13 tracks that the majority of people would like much more than these. And honestly, what emotional complexities does a 30 year old feel that a 14 doesn't other than feeling stressed or jaded? While they may be more capable of experiencing...30 year olds dont usually seem to be thinking or feeling much more than their children and sometimes much much less. I get how this is less complex than KZK but don't you think releasing something like that could have been her letting out all the emotion she could muster up at once and after it she just wanted to enjoy making music and challenging herself in ways that arent as pleasing to.....you. Innovation aside (honestly how many times can an artist have 10-15 songs with 10-15 styles....theres nothing wrong with exploring the same style in a few different ways. This album seemed to me like it had artistic intent, possibly the most we've seen since KZK (HF maybe?) so I'm not really buying your argument.


Maybe if I knew what kind of music you were into, I could see where you were coming from. But right now you just sound like an unpleasant person whose exaggerating their negative opinion to try and counter the many positive opinions (which I guess I can relate to in a way....I talk lots of shit about radiohead when I actually kind of like them)

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Old 2010.02.11, 06:37 AM   #38
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Nearly finished my first listen. I avoided getting caught up in pre-release discussion and hype to avoid disappointment, which seems to have worked in my favour. It's not fantastic, but I'm pleasantly surprised. I've enjoyed listening to a few songs so far. It'll take a few more listens to really decide just how good it is, which songs stand out and if it has any kind of longevity but I'm willing to give it more of a chance than I did Variety. Admittedly it's starting to lose momentum, let's hope it picks up again at the end.
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Old 2010.02.11, 08:07 AM   #39
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First of all, why do people see only the negative things I post.
I actually said this album had 3 solid tunes, albeit not solid in the old SR manner. Nobody's going to agree with me that those 3 tunes are good? Nobody's going to applaud Uki (and everyone knows I can't stand that dude) on writing a successful R&B tune? Don't call me a hater when all you read is the negative part of my posts. Also, calling an album "generic" is not the same as calling an album "shit". Taking generic drugs isn't the same as eating shit. Get your facts right before you trod all over me.

I listen to this album, and I don't feel Tokyo Jihen at all. Instead, I hear bands like Every Little Thing, The Brilliant Green, DAI, especially in beginning, more rock parts of the album. (Sorry the references are so old, I haven't been bothered to listen to Jpop in a while.) This is what I mean by any band could have made this album. Old SR/TJ tunes had that special quality where if you made someone else do the vocals, it would sound totally wrong. Utada Hikaru tried to imitate Tsumi to Batsu at one of her concerts before. She did a great imitation, but the feel is essentially Utada, not SR. However here you can put Mika Nakashima, Ai Otsuka, or even one of the PERFUME girls on vox, and no one would think, no that's not right. This is the point that I want to get across. A band should make their tracks feel special. A vocalist should own her melody, impart her life into the tune. It doesn't feel like it here. It feels detached. And no, I don't need lyrics to tell me that. I don't even need good quality audio to convey that to me. SR's demos weren't exactly audiophile material but you can hear the passion, sincerity, the drive. You don't hear that anymore.

If you want to know what I listen to, head over to the CLT thread. I put stuff I like in there. Admittedly, no one's commented on it, so I take it that no one has really taken to the sound. That's okay. But if you really want to know the yardstick in which I judge TJ, there is José James, and Air (no, not the french electronic duo). SR used to write the kind of songs which have the same emotional weight as the Air tune. Not anymore.
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Old 2010.02.11, 08:41 AM   #40
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Eh? I dunno, I think Mika or Ai would sound pretty darn weird singing any of the songs on this album. But maybe that's just me, man. Shrug.

I've had it on repeat all day - I've decided that I can't really stand FOUL, and that FAIR's a little wishy washy for my liking, but everything else has a really great vibe going on. Even the cute like fuck Utten-something. I thought at the beginning that was really clear that ikiru was superior to kimaru, and had no idea what everyone else was smoking when they jizzed over it, but now that I've allowed it to seep through 5 or 6 listens over the entire day, I'm really starting to 'get' it. Again, I'm sure nobody's gonna agree with me, but I'd have sex to most of this album.
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